Apparatus for cleaning cast-svj etal surfaces



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

D. G. GREEN. APPARATUS PoR CLEANING GAST METAL SURPAGES.

Patented Oct. 26, 1897.

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' D. C. GREEN. APPARATUS PORGLEANING GAST METAL SURPACBS. No. 592,730. Patented Oct. 26,1897.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

, D. c. GREEN. APPARATUS POR CLEANING CAST METAL SURPAC'BS. No. 592,730. Patented Oct. 26,1897.

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lar-ENT DAVID C. GREEN, OF MILWAUKEE, VISCONSIN.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CAST-METAL SURFACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 592,730, dated October 26, 1897.

Appiicaionrnea May 12, 1894..

To all whom it may concern.- v

Be it known that I, DAVID C. GREN, of Milwaukee, Milwaukee county, Viisconsin,= have invented certain Improvements in Ap paratus for Cleaning Cast-Metal Surfaces, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to improvements inl devices for cleaning the sand from cast-metal surfaces, speciallycircular andv circumferentially undulatingisurfaces,such as car-wheels, its object being to provide improved means therefor whereby the opposite surfaces of a wheel may be quickly and simultaneously cleaned. l

To this end my invention consists in providing a frame or other suitable support upon which rests a saddle to receive the tread and liange of the wheel and conforming in shape thereto and adapted to `hold the wheel inlupright position, the wheel being further secured in place, if necessary,l by a similar shoe clampedA upon ,the top of the wheel.t Mounted also upon the frame on each side of the Wheel are shaft-carryin g frames which are adjustable thereon longitudinally to compensate for the wear of the brushes hereinafter described. Upon these shafts are mounted disks, preferably of metal, conformingV in shape to the contour of the adjacent wheel# surface and carrying brushes made up,^pref erably, of fiat wire, the flat surfaces of which are arranged radially upon said disks. The faces of these brushes'also conform to the surface to be cleaned and are preferably arranged in groups of triangular form or substantially sectors of a circle with intermediateopen spaces to assist in the cleaning process. The brush-carrying shafts are adapted to slide in their bearings, so as to carrythe brushes to and from the surface to be cleaned and to regulate the pressure thereof.

My invention further consists in the construction hereinafter more particularly described and' claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machine, shown with a car-wheel held in place between the brushes with the brushes withdrawn therefrom. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail'central vertical section of the Serial No. 511,027. (No model.)

the same,'an,d Fig'. 4 is a front elevation of one of the brushes. l

The machine is mounted upon a suitable frame or support 2, which carries also a suitable base-plate, upon which are arranged guidesy or tracks l to support and `guide the `frames 5,' which are adjustable longitudinally of the tracks by means "of screws 7, having the hand-wheels 8. Arranged yto slide and turn infbearings fb and 10 upon these frames are shafts 9. These are fitted with the loose belt-pulleys 11 andthe conical friction-pulleys 12, slidable thereon,and secured in place by asuitable feather or spline and entering corresponding conical sockets in the pulleys .11, so' as to frictionally clutch them upon the .'shaft. The conical pulleys 12 are thrown into or out of engagement with the pulleys 11 by means of levers 15 upon the brackets 16 and carrying segmental collars 14, which run incircumferential groovesinthe hubs 13. By throwing the levers the pulleys 11 may be thrown into or out of connection with the shaft, so as to turn or release the same, and the pulleys 11 being held from sliding upon the shafts by suitable means the shafts themselves, with their attachments, are carried to vand from the wheel or other object being cleaned.

` Upon the inwardly-projecting ends of the shafts 9 are keyed or otherwise secured the circular plates 17 upon which are secured other plates 18, conforming to the contour of thewheel o r other surface to be cleaned and perforated to receive the flat wire brushes 19. These Abrushes project uniform distances therefrom, so that their outer ends form surfaces' of similar conformation to that of the plate holding them. The wires of the brushes s tand with their iiat surface in radial lines and also are preferably arranged in groups of the form of sectors of a circle, as illustrated in Fig. 4, with open intermediate spaces 20, which permit the material loosened from the surface by one group of brushes to be freed therefrom before the surface is reached by the other group instead of carrying the same along in the mass of the brush. It further serves to render the brush more elastic, giving greater sweep. It also enables the brushes anda car-Wheel in position between IOO corners of the brush to enter the hollow spaces in the faces of the wheel.

The abo\f*e-described construction is in duplicate, one set being carried upon each of the frames 5, except that the forms of the brushes vary to conform to the different shapes of dit erent sides of the wheel to be cleaned.

Intermediate of the brushes upon the frame 2 is placed the shoe 2l, shaped to conform to the tread and iiange of the car-wheel 22. This is generally suiiicient to hold the wheel in place, but additional securing means may be provided. Such means I illustrate in Figs. I and 2, Where the standards or supports 23, extending upwardly from the bearings l on the frame, have a connecting horizontal bar 24., on which is placed a bearing 25, having journaled therein a crank-shaft 26. The crank-rod 27 carries a shoe 2S, similarly conformed to the tread and flange of the wheel and adapted to be pressed downward upon the same by throwing the lever 20.

In order to take up the wear of the brushes and to adapt the machine for cleaning wheels of varying thicknesses, the frames 5 are adjusted to and from a medial cross-line by means of screws 7 and their hand-wheels S.

Thilo I have described and shown my iinproved machine as adapted for cleaning car- Wheels, it is evident that it may be employed for cleaning other surfaces by providing it with brushes similarly con formed to the surface to be cleaned.

In operation the wheel to be cleaned is taken from the annealing-pit, with the sand and other loosely-attached particles upon it, and placed upon the shoe 2l of the machine, and, if necessary, also secured by means of the supplementary shoe 2S, the brushes being withdrawn from contact. The levers are then operated, first to throw the clutches into engagement with the belt-pulleys, and then by further movement the brushes are carried against the surface of the wheel with sufcient pressure and there held until the wheel is cleaned, as desired, when it can be removed and another substituted therefor.

I claim- As an improved article of manufacture, a metal scouring or cleaning brush, consisting of a plane-surfaced back, a disk secured thereto conformed to the shape of the surface to be cleaned, and the series or groups of wires secured to and projecting a substantially uni form distance from said disk, so as to form a brushing-surface of similar contour.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID C. GREEN.

lVitnesses:

XV. C. SWIFT, II. S. JOHNSON. 

